Tori Amos Thinks "Maybe California a Good Mothers Day Gift

Download Tori Amos's new song, video or ringtone, "Maybe California" from her upcoming Abnormally Attracted to Sin (out May 19) by clicking here.   Go ahead, it's free.  

Mayer Hawthorne “Just Ain't Gonna Work Out” Video

What can you say about Mayer Hawthorne's throwback vibe. This shit is gonna work out.   Tour dates below.  



4/28 Minneapolis @ Varsity Theater. 9pm. 18+ $15
4/29 Madison @ High Noon Saloon. 9pm. 18+ Ticket Info
4/30 Chicago @ The Abbey Pub. 9pm. 18+ Ticket Info
5/1 Toronto @ Revival Bar. 9pm. 19+ Tickets
5/2 Montreal @ Les Saints. 8pm. 18+ Ticket Info
5/3 Princeton @ Terrace F Club. 5pm. All Ages. FREE
5/4 Boston @ Paradise. 7pm. 18+ Ticket Info
5/5 Baltimore @ Sonar. 7pm. 18+ Ticket Info
5/6 Philadelphia @ North Bowl. 9pm Tickets
5/7 Washington DC @ 9:30 Club. 9pm. All Ages. Tickets
5/8 NYC @ American Museum of Natural History. 9pm. 21+. $20
5/9 NYC @ LPR. 11pm. 21+. $10 (Pants, Dam, Hawthorne & Folerio) Tickets

Eels New Video - "Fresh Blood"

The Eels are back with this awesome track from their new album Hombre Lobro.  Loves it. Via Stereogum.

2009 Siren Festival Includes Built To Spill

Here's another piece of news we stole from BV.  Siren Festival will have Built To Spill and Frightened Rabbit.  It will be held Saturday, July 18 at noon.  Year after year this free event is one of the best days in the city!  Get there early.  

BUILT TO SPILL
THE RAVEONETTES
FRIGHTENED RABBIT
THE GRAND DUCHY
MONOTONIX
MICACHU & THE SHAPES

+ more TBA

Fiasco Playing Citysol July 11

Fiasco are little known in these parts right now, but they have some energetic tunes and they are playing the free solar-powered Citysol per Brooklyn Vegan and their myspace.  By the end of the summer the vocal-less group may be the next Battles.   We hope to catch them on July 11.  

Bob Dylan, NOFX and Shout Out Out Out Out highlight a light week at Spinner

Oh Spinner, even when you're bad...you're still pretty good.  

This weeks free albums include:

Dylan

NOFX

Shout Out Out Out Out

Ben Folds

New York Doll

Ben Lee

Sharon Van Etten Makes "Coming Home" for Movie "Woman's Prison"

We are in love with Sharon Van Etten and you should be too. Check out the video for this new song that showcases her gorgeous vocals!  Her new album will be out in May.  Read about the film below.  Via The Music Slut.  

A small crew of six girls, set out to South Bend, Indiana, with hardy nothing to make a feature film. And we did it. We managed a cast of 50 and 35 locations. It was done with intuition, ingenuity and most importantly, passion.

My dedicated crew accompanied me to face a general atmosphere of sexism and poverty. We shattered the gender and class wall that surrounds the world of film while humanizing a culture that has often made into caricatures.

Nothing was easy about making this film, but neither are the lives that the film represents. The main character Julie Ann Mabry is the heart and soul of everyone that I have carried with me. She is not the exception; she is the story of Indiana. With this film I wanted to tell the story of a poor girl growing up in the Midwest without options. She is trapped in a prison by poverty long before she actually goes to prison. During the filming, I worked side by side with many women who were in the same situation. It was heartwrenching, watching these people tell their story and then go back to dead end jobs, to abusive boyfriends and husbands.

Making this film tried my physical and emotional endurance many times, but it is a completely honest work that could not have been made any other way.

-Katie Madonna Lee

Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers Rocks the Bell House 04-22-09

To begin, if you haven't listened to Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers yet, please click here now. Whatever I say here will not do her justice.

The Bell House was surprisingly dead, even for a Wednesday. It was obvious that many didn't know what they were missing.

Openers, The Depreciation Guild warmed the room with dreamy shoegaze.  You can check out a free album download by going to their website.

Shilpa took the stage with a bang.  The first thing that you will notice is that she is a tiny girl seconds later you will learn that her voice is enormous.  

The tight melange group opened with the track "Beating St Louis"  from their current debut EP A Fish Hook An Open Eye.  The tiny crowd, looked on in awe.  They knew that this was a special evening.  

It wasn't long before the entire room was bouncing along with Shilpa.  Her stage antics were amazing to watch as she worked her way through songs from A Fish Hook An Open Eye and the disbanded Beat The Devil .  Shilpa moved through these songs succinctly and steadily but never calmly.  Even as she fought a slight cold, she managed to muster more energy than most artists do on their best nights. Between her waving hand on the harmonium to nearly swallowing her microphone to spitting on the crowd, everything on the stage was authentic. 

Yes, their are obvious inspirations and influences and most stem from the classic rock genre, yet somehow she remains modern.  Patti Smith, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison come to mind as comparisons, but Shilpa is herself.  And she owns her music.   Go see her live ASAP before she's huge! She will be at Piano's next month, May 13, 20 and 27.

Oh and be prepared to turn to the person next to you and say, "I can't believe that voice comes from that girl."  

Matt and Kim "Lesson Learned" about being Naked (New Video)

Matt and Kim do a great job running through Times Square nakedly. They even dodge the (fake?) cops in their new video for "Lesson Learned".

Lessons Learned

Bon Iver Live at His High School

This is just about the coolest thing I've read in awhile via Stereogum.  Justin Vernon of Bon Iver fame visited his High School and made the band kids feel way cool.  Who's playing that flute on "Lump Sum"?  

From current student Leo Strei:  

"It's just been awesome to have him with us. To have someone of international fame like this with us is fantastic. What is really cool is how straightforward he is with us. He talked to us as musicians and never talked down to us; it was just like we had been friends with him for a long time."

Depeche Mode, Camera Obscura Listen Free at Spinner

Another decent week over at Spinner features new albums by Depeche Mode, Camera Obscura, Tinted Windows (current and former members of Hanson, Smashing Pumpkins, Cheap Trick and Fountains of Wayne), King Kahn and the Shrines and Janes Addiction.  

Free Spanish Prisoners EP out Next Week

We were fans of Spanish Prisoners debut LP, Songs To Forget.  And even popped it on today to make sure we still were fans after we received this press release and yeah, still good.  Below is news on the new FREE EP.  Stay tuned for a review.  

We are excited to announce that on April 20th, 2009, Brooklyn-based band Spanish Prisoners will release their new EP, “Los Angeles Guitar Dream” for free through their Bandcamp page. 

Following an acclaimed and eclectic debut album (Songs to Forget, Exit Stencil 2008), Spanish Prisoners, led by songwriter Leo Maymind, had a busy year. The band was invited to play shows with Daniel Johnston, John Vanderslice, and Foals; they were featured as Paste Magazine’s NYC Band of the Week; and they were interviewed by such media outlets as Brooklyn Vegan and NYC Taper. Following this flurry of activity, Maymind set about to define a more cohesive identity for his ever-evolving musical project. 

The concise “Los Angeles Guitar Dream” EP does just this, containing different angles of skewed, psychedelic pop that place a newfound emphasis on male / female vocal interplay (courtesy of new keyboardist and vocalist Amberly Hungerford), layered guitar textures, and effected acoustic sounds reminiscent of pre-festival era Flaming Lips. The title track, with its subtle electronic flourishes and hazy production, shows a newfound rhythmic intensity whose epic soundscape recalls Depression-era Cure or the recently departed Grandaddy. Spanish Prisoners manage to pack a multitude of ideas from the pop idiom into three hook-filled and intricately arranged songs that beg to be played over again. 

Spanish Prisoners are set to celebrate the release of the EP on April 25th, 2009 with a show at Crash Mansion in Manhattan, NY. 

M. Ward - Rave On New Video

M. Ward's "Rave On" is from 2009's Hold Time.  New video below.    Via Stereogum.  

Rye Rye - Webisode featuring M.I.A.

You can also check out Rye Rye's current single "Bang" which features MIA as well. Webisode below.

Jessica Lea Mayfield - "Kiss Me Again"

This album has been stuck on repeat for over a week now. If you're not familiar with Jessica Lea Mayfield now is the time. The video for "Kiss me Again" from Stereogum is as heartbreaking as the song. See for yourself.

Health - "Get Color" New Song

I know little about LA's Health, but this song "Get Color" rules. Listen here.

Tori Amos - "Welcome To England" Video via Yahoo Music

We're about to reach 10 albums and counting for Tori Amos. Check out "Welcome To England" the first single from Abnormally Attracted To Sin.